Amram Scholar Series Presents: James McAuley

3935 Macomb Street Northwest,Washington DC 20016

24 April, 2022

Description

WHC's Amram Scholar Series Presents: James McAuley (The House of Fragile Things) Sunday, April 24 at 10:30 am at Washington Hebrew Congregation on Macomb St. NW.* In the dramatic years between 1870 and the end of World War II, a number of prominent French Jews—pillars of an embattled community—invested their fortunes in France’s cultural artifacts, sacrificed their sons to the country’s army, and were ultimately rewarded by seeing their collections plundered and their families deported to Nazi concentration camps. Author James McAuley, explores the central role that art and material culture played in the assimilation and identity of French Jews in his eloquent new book, The House of Fragile Things: Jewish Art Collectors and the Fall of France. At the first annual Leslie Maitland Amram Scholar Series lecture, he will tell the story of Jewish art collectors who were often accused of “invading” France’s cultural patrimony. The important collections these families left behind—many ultimately donated to the French state—reflected not only their obsession with beautiful things but also a tragic aim to reaffirm their national identity in the face of surging antisemitism. “Their embrace of art and beauty,” McAuley says, “was met with hatred and destruction.” About the Author: James McAuley is a Paris correspondent for The Washington Post and a contributor to the New York Review of Books. He holds a doctorate in modern European history from the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar. Presented in partnership with the Jewish Book Council Click here to purchase this book through the WHC Mitzvah Mall *This program will also be available to view via livestream. If you'd like to join us virtually please RSVP for the lecture and the livestream link and password will be included in your registration confirmation email.